Chapter 2
We were sent to classes immediately, which was a little cruel and I knew it would be awful since I did not know squat. Lissa was led away, and I watched her go, glad the bond would allow me to keep reading her emotional state. I was sent to one of the guidance counselors first. He was an ancient Moroi guy. The visit took only five minutes. He said nothing about my return and asked a few questions about what classes I took in Chicago and Portland. I did not know but I chose the easy ones. Ones that I could slide through if need be. Then, he compared those to my old file which looked quite thick, on a whim I copied the file and obliviated the very startled Moroi before leaving with my new class schedule.
20:00 - 21:00 1st Period -- Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques
21.10 - 22:10 2nd Period --Bodyguard Theory and Personal Protection 3
22:20 - 23:20 3rd Period -- Weight training and Conditioning
23:30 - 00:30 4th Period -- Language Arts
00:30 - 01:30 -- Lunch 12 AM --
01:40 - 02:40 5th Period -- Animal and Behavior and Physiology
02:50 - 03:50 6th Period -- Pre-Calculus
04:00 - 05:00 7th Period -- Moroi Culture 4
05:10 - 06:10 8th Period -- Slavic Art
Dimitri and Alberta escorted me to the guardian’s gym for my first period, neither one acknowledging my existence. I did not care; I was memorizing the route to my classes. When we arrived, the reactions of my peers indicated that this was not an ordinary school day. They were in the middle of setting up when we entered the gym, and all eyes fell on me. I smirked again, nothing wrong with a bit of confidence, I was an adult and hated to go back to being a child but it was nothing that I could not handle, I was used to children looking at me. I was a teacher after all. I scanned the openmouthed novices and found no one that looked familiar, no one really looked exactly like the ones in the movie and I was kind of disappointed in that. I only spotted one redhead with freckles and wondered if that was Mason. Dimitri interrupted my thoughts again. "You will be with me today." I was confused this didn't happen with the original Rose did it?" I just shrugged and followed after Dimitri to see what he had planned for me. He put his jacket on a bench and then turned towards me. I was still wearing my jeans and it would be uncomfortable to fight in sure but it wasn't as if I had never done it. At least I had my trainers on. He faced me and a flare of excitement was in my stomach again, finally a worthy partner. Dimitri was strong and very fast, and more than once he had me on my back, but I flipped my body up and kept moving. I never once backed down. As Steve once said, I can do this all day, even if my body will hate me by the end.
I managed to pin Dimitri once for like a second before I landed on my ass again, and it seemed that we gathered quite the crowd of onlookers by the end. Dimitri won and I felt everything in my body ache. The respect grew not just in the adults but the novices too. "Hey Rose," The Red-haired guy caught up to me followed by another one. "Hey," I was feeling really awkward was this Mason? And the other one? "That was awesome, where did you learn to fight light that? You almost beat the god." The other guy exclaimed. The redhead laughed. "Come on Eddie, let Rose get her breath back." I looked at the other guy so this was Eddie Castile. I made a mental note and looked back at the redhead. This must be Mason uh forgot his last name. I smirked. "Here and there," I told them and they walked with me to the next class talking excitedly about the fight, and the moves that were their favorites. At least walking with these two I was confident that I would not have to worry about getting lost on my way to class. I checked my schedule. I had Bodyguard Theory 3. Frowning at the 3 as we walked to class. I was really worried about the 3 behind Bodyguard Theory and Personal Protection. That could only mean that I needed to catch up to 1 and 2. Hopefully, just for today, I could wing it. The instructor stared at me and then his eyes widened in mock surprise. I was confused as hell who was he again?
"What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege. How very generous of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us." Ah shit, I withheld the smirk, it would not help me now. "Well come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class." I shrugged I could probably pull something out of my ass if need be. I was not going to let this arse embarrass me. I am over 500 years old now. Not that I can tell anyone that. I walked up to the front of the class, I actually felt quite at home here. However, I noticed that I had a larger audience than expected. The guardians were standing at the back of the class too.
"So Hathaway," Stan said cheerfully, strolling back up to the front. "Enlighten us about your protective techniques." "there were no techniques, just common sense. I never let her out of my sight, kept my body between her and every and any danger. We stayed inside at night, and didn't use our own names." I told him unconcerned.
The Guardian in front of me frowned. "Well then, I supposed you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night." "No, I did not, since I had to go to class with her during the day. But we stayed in the same room, I stayed by the window and door while she was deeper into the room." I was lying out of my ass, I know for a fact that Rose did not do that. He kept trying to embarrass me with names of maneuvers I did not know. From books I have yet to read. "We're at war with the Strigoi," He yelled at me. I could smell the coffee on his breath, he was so close. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even notice him -- and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, nothing compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?" "Moroi blood," I told him keeping the Snape face, up, blank, and unemotional. "What was that?" I ground my teeth together refusing to repeat myself. This loser was a jerk and I was not going to hex him. Because believe me I wanted to. Seeing that I was not going to answer him again he continued. "Moroi blood makes them stronger, harder to destroy. They kill and drink from a human or Dhampir, but they want Moroi's blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi has attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies, exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And that is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough -- even with guardians -- to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear...." "So do the Dhampir," I finished for him.
"Well, it looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester." I was told to have a seat and I did. But since I had nothing to take notes with I could just sit there listening to the big jerk. Dimitri fell into step beside me, "You want to talk to me about what happened in Stan's class?" I asked him as he was walking with me towards lunch. "Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?" Hell yes, but that would mean scaring the shit out of her when I started using magic.
"I kept her alive, I kept her safe and hidden, going above and beyond to keep up with all her needs. So yes, I was prepared." I was, Rose not so much. Dimitri could not say I did not fight well, I almost managed to win him. "You fight well, but your movements are not precise enough, punches not strong enough but you were trained?" "Self-taught, you are the first one I managed to test that against, I could not go to a gym that often, I needed to stay near Lissa and distractions like that ..." Dimitri nodded and looked deep in thought. He was probably working out the training program as we speak. I walked back to the place we were paraded through when we got there to have a quick lunch. I was starving. I almost made it back there when a voice called me. "Rose?" Peering in the voice's direction, I caught sight of Victor Dashkov, his kind face smiling at me as he leaned on a cane near the building wall. His two guardians stood nearby at a polite distance. "Prince Dashkov." I nodded my head politely feeling stupid. Did I use the correct titles?
I did not know what to do with him yet, he wasn't evil, just misguided and his plans and methods were stupid. Rose was just too hot-tempered to see the big picture, I was not. "How was your first day?" he asked. "Not over yet," I said politely. "I will be leaving this afternoon after I say hello to Natalie. When I heard Vasilisa -- and you -- had returned, I simply had to come see you." This was kind of awkward, I had a lot of experience talking to my fair share of psychopaths. I did not know what to say to this one though. "I wanted to tell you ...." He spoke hesitantly. "I understand the gravity of what you did, but I think Headmistress Kirova failed to acknowledge something. You did keep Vasilisa safe all this time. That is impressive." "Thank you." I kept my polite air about it. "Did you run into any dangers while on the run?" He asked conversationally and I looked at him. "Psi-hounds." I knew the bastard sent them and I looked at his face carefully to see any changes but he was a very good liar it seems. "Remarkable." I shrugged, not going to brag, I did not remember them but it was in the movie. "I've hunted with them before, they aren't easy to evade, not with their powers and intelligence." Was that a confession??
I wanted to go eat something and he was annoying me. "You're a smart girl, and you have your bond." Finally, the thing he wanted to know. "The histories are full of stories of guardians who could feel when their charges were in danger," That was definitely something I wanted to research. Victor continued. "I've made a hobby of studying up on it and some of the ancient ways. I've heard it's a tremendous asset." Maybe I can find out some things from him. "What is it like -- if you don't mind me asking?" I felt weird about giving him this information. He asked me because he wanted to adjust his plans to work around me. After a minute of thought, I decided to give him a little bit. "When I focus on her, I know what she is feeling and thinking." "But it doesn't work the other way? She doesn't sense you?" I shook my head, not willing to give him too much rope, he just might hang me with it. "How did it happen?" he asked me, his face shining with wonder. "Two years ago, after the accident." I did not remember this, but I knew it from the story. He frowned. "I still can barely believe this. It's been so long since this happened. If it did happen more often ... just think what it could do for the safety of all Moroi. If only others could experience this too. I'll have to do more research and see if we can replicate it with others --" Deciding against asking him for information, and instead going to the Library to find books on it I wanted to get into the cafeteria now and eat something.
"Perhaps we could --" He started coughing great seizing fit that made his whole body shake. I wondered if I couldn't heal him instead but vetoed that idea too. His guardians took him away and I went into the cafeteria to get something to eat.
I felt Lissa's anxiety spike and I started running immediately, not knowing what I could expect, there were animal mutilations at the beginning of the book but I don't think that happened on the first day. I nearly ran into her in my hurry to get to her. She didn't see me though neither did the people standing with her. The little girl that was glaring at her this evening or morning was standing in front of her. I stopped and listened to figure out what was going on. The girl leaned towards Lissa, who seemed more stunned than anything else. "It looks to me like it came from a garage sale. I thought a precious Dragomir would have standards." Scorn dripped off the word Dragomir. Oh so this is Mia, that would make the guy Aaron the ex-boyfriend. I stepped between Mia and Lissa and forced her to step back. "Back off barbie, if you just came over here to insult her clothing then you can get lost. She is done talking to you." I threatened glaring down at her. She took a step back as planned but still didn't leave.